Hundreds of people lined up in Denver's Civic Center on Monday for free marijuana, in an unprecedented event that showed just how much Colorado's laws on pot have changed in only nine months.

As part of the kickoff for a campaign opposing a marijuana sales tax ballot question, anyone 21 or older in line with a valid ID was given a free joint — something that would have been illegal until only recently. At 11 a.m., the queue for free joints stretched out of the park and down the sidewalk. Organizers brought only 600 of the marijuana cigarettes and had to furiously roll more on the hood of a parked car.

Police watched from a distance, staying away even when a few people lit up their joints, which is illegal in public.

"It is legal to hand out marijuana to people in Colorado, and it is legal to do it without paying a penny in taxes!" shouted Rob Corry, who helped organize the event and hopes to defeat Proposition AA.

The statewide ballot question will ask voters to approve a 15 percent excise tax and an initial 10 percent sales tax that could be raised up to 15 percent. That would be in addition to the existing sales taxes.

Denver also will ask voters to approve an additional 3.5 percent initial sales tax that could be raised as high as 15 percent.

Corry, who helped draft Amendment 64, which legalized the sale of recreational pot to adults, called it the biggest tax increase in state history and said the state did a "bait and switch" by adding what he called excessive taxes.

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"It's going to defeat the intent of Amendment 64," he said to the crowd. "What's going to happen is it is going to go back into the black market and gray market, which isn't taxed."

The first $40 million collected will go to school construction. The rest will be split between local governments and the state general fund for enforcement and regulation.

"The free marijuana joints handout is the worst type of political stunt for the campaign," said Rep. Dan Pabon, D-Denver, sponsor of the legislation. "We are over here feverishly working on public safety and robust regulations to prevent marijuana from getting into the hands of the wrong people."

Diane Carlson of Smart Colorado, the organization that has worked for tougher regulations around Amendment 64, said she was appalled by the giveaway.

"Is this what we want for our city?" she asked. "Denver City Council has a chance tonight to put the brakes on this."

Monday night, the council planned its first vote on retail pot regulations. The final vote is set for next week.

Corry said organizers brought about a pound of marijuana to the event, pot that had been seized by the North Metro Drug Task Force "a long time ago" from a medical-marijuana provider but recently returned.

It is legal for people over 21 to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. A typical joint has about half a gram of marijuana, meaning 1 ounce amounts to about 50 or 60 joints.

The event was legal, said Denver City Attorney Doug Friednash. Event organizers checked drivers' licenses before handing out marijuana to those 21 and older. Smoking in public isn't legal, but police did not make any obvious attempts to stop it.

Janet Osborn said she got to the park at 8 a.m. to make sure she could get a free joint. Osborn, who moved to Denver from New Mexico, said she will vote against the taxes in November if her prior criminal conviction doesn't prevent her from registering to vote in Colorado. For her, the doobie was the draw.

"I wish I could have gotten a bigger one because there were blunts in there," said Osborn, 27. "I got probably the smallest one. But it's OK. It's free."

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